Murakami ready to get to work as his MLB career begins on Opening Day
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MILWAUKEE -- People have studied Munetaka Murakami’s exceptional baseball resume playing in Japan leading into his Major League Baseball debut for the White Sox against the Brewers at 1:10 p.m. CT Thursday in Milwaukee.
Murakami, who turned 26 on Feb. 2, has 56-home-run power as he exhibited during a 2022 season with Yakult, where he also hit .318 with 134 RBIs. But what about something the general population doesn’t know about Murakami?
That answer can’t include bidets officially having been installed in the home clubhouse at Rate Field per Murakami’s request. Been there, known that.
Colson Montgomery, the White Sox shortstop and one of the players helping Murakami adjust to MLB life and life in the United States, was asked that question during the team’s workout Wednesday evening at American Family Field. Montgomery paused for a moment before coming up with an interesting response.
“This isn’t really anything crazy, but his English is getting a lot better from the first time he came,” Montgomery said. “Then it’s like he came back from Japan, the World Baseball Classic, I was able to actually talk to him pretty good. I credit him for that.”
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The White Sox will be plenty satisfied if Murakami does most of his talking with the bat and the glove. It’s why they made a two-year, $34 million offseason commitment to the left-handed-slugging first baseman, hoping for numbers somewhere in that ballpark from his run of excellence in Japan.
Manager Will Venable’s first 2026 lineup features Murakami at first base and hitting sixth. But Murakami focuses more on team goals than his plaudits during interviews, showing that spirit when asked about a preference to hit higher in the order.
“It doesn’t really matter about the lineup,” said Murakami through interpreter Kenzo Yagi. “Anything I can do to contribute to the win for this team is what I will do at the end.
“As I get into the field, as I get more at-bats along the season, I’ll definitely think about what I can do into the routines as much as possible and figure out where I am comfortable. It’s more about getting into at-bats and feeling more comfortable along the way.”
Playing for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic was important to Murakami and was agreed upon before he joined the White Sox. His time away cost Murakami consistent Spring Training at-bats in Arizona, but even with the reduced sample size, general manager Chris Getz and the rest of the team were able to witness his strong, regimented work ethic, his desire to get better and his desire to prove he can play at the Major League level.
“We are not asking him to do anything above what’s he’s capable of doing,” Getz said. “We’ve got other players here to help support him. They are getting comfortable at the Major League level just like he is. We want him to go out there and play the game that he brings to the table.”
Getz’s philosophy for Murakami applies to Montgomery, Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel (when he gets healthy) and Shane Smith, who is making his first Opening Day start against his original professional baseball organization.
The '26 Sox are not expected to contend in the American League Central. But they're a team expected by many to perform marginally better than the 60-102 squad from 2025, marking their third straight campaign with 100-plus losses. That dubious message has not reached the upbeat and confident White Sox players.
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Nobody is a superstar, at least not yet. Nobody is being relied on to carry a team. So even a newcomer such as Murakami, arguably the team’s biggest addition during the current rebuild, isn’t viewed as a 35-homer-or-nothing sort of presence. They are working toward a common goal.
“Just really excited about the work that these guys put in during camp, came in with a plan,” Venable said. “These guys did a great job of executing it. Feel really good about the group and how they complement each other. Who we have out there, the way they’re connecting off the field. Really excited to get going.”
“Every day is about grinding and getting at-bats and coming up with everyday results,” Murakami said. “At the end is how I do performance-wise. The results are all that matters.”
Montgomery’s results for learning Japanese remain a work in progress. In regard to Murakami’s improved English spoken of by Montgomery, Murakami, through his interpreter, politely disagreed.
“I don’t really think I improved in English, to be honest,” Murakami said. “But Colson always comes back and says, ‘Huh.’ I’ll try not to force him to do that anymore.”